OTTAWA – SiriusXM has been rebuked by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) for playing a 60-year-old country song containing demeaning descriptions of Indigenous women.
The CBSC said that the Canadian satellite radio provider’s July 12, 2016 broadcast of the 1958 song “Squaws Along the Yukon” by American country singer Hank Thompson on its Willie’s Roadhouse channel breached various broadcast codes due to the use of the word “squaw” and the portrayal of Indigenous women in the song.
The song contains the refrain “The squaws along the Yukon are good enough for me” as well as lines such as “She makes her underwear from the hides of grizzly bear” and “There’s a salmon-colored girl who sets my heart a-whirl”. A listener complained that the song is offensive, racist and sexist.
SiriusXM agreed to abide by the broadcast codes administered by the CBSC, however responded that the context of the song must be taken into consideration, namely that it is an old song played on a “classic” country station and that “older recordings may at times reflect the insensitivity and ignorance of past eras and on occasion may use language and convey views that are now viewed by society as outdated and inappropriate.”
The CBSC English-Language Panel acknowledged that context in its decision, but pointed out that, even historically, the word “squaw” had negative connotations. It also stated that the age of a song will not “save” it from breaching the codes and that “while the Panel does not believe the intent of the song was necessarily to be offensive, […] the noted elements of the song demean and belittle Indigenous women.”
The CBSC found breaches of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Equitable Portrayal provisions relating to human rights, stereotyping, degradation, and language and terminology, as well as the human rights clause of the CAB Code of Ethics.
One adjudicator did, however, emphasize the difficulty the CBSC faces when examining historical works.
